Scar
Scar is the main antagonist in The Lion King. He is the scheming uncle of Simba who kills his older brother Mufasa in order to steal the throne of the Pride Lands. Appearance For an adult male, Scar is slightly undersized with a thin frame and a wiry build. Next to his brother Mufasa, he appears to be small and inferior, but he does dwarf the lionesses in size, being taller and of a stronger build than even their largest member. Despite his supposed weak physical prowess, Scar is exceptionally strong, able to hold his own against the much younger Simba and capable of knocking a full-grown Sarabi off her paws with a single hit. His smaller body size reinforces the slick movements that his animator intended him to portray. Scar was specifically designed to move with dance-like motions, having a sleek form and a slicked-back mane that were intended to enhance his smooth body motions. Unlike the larger males of the film, Scar was intended to slither and glide rather than walk with a strong step. As far as coloring goes, Scar is colored a rich brown, while his muzzle, paws, and underbelly are all creamier in color. His mane is thinner and sleeker than those of the other males, colored a silky black that appears brown in the sunlight, with the fur on his elbow joints and the tip of his tail matching the black of his mane. His chin fur is scruffier and pointed down in a distinctive goatee, while his eyebrows are black and considerably thick. Unlike most lions in his pride, Scar possess dark eyeshades and an angular nose with eyes of a neon green. A scar, his namesake, runs down his left eye. According to Andreas Deja, Scar was modeled in part after his voice actor, Jeremy Irons. ---- Personality Even as an adolescent, Scar proves himself to be highly intelligent, motivated by jealousy, and manipulative. His ties to family only go so far when his own goals are in mind, and he sees no problem in endangering his brother's life in order to get the attention he so desires. The ends never justify the means for young Scar, who fails to see the importance in helping others. Despite his avid lust to be the favored son and the king of the Pride Lands, he is lazy and takes little interest in his subjects, willing to bend the rules and put his own interests above those of his subjects. In adulthood, Scar remains much the same, though his sense of plotting has taken a deadly turn. Still jealous and bogged down by feelings of inferiority, Scar is psychopathic and even less reliant on his family, willing to frame and murder the only family members he has left in order to steal the throne. Even when he is above Mufasa, having murdered and stolen the throne from him, he remains sensitive to his brother's mention, knowing full well that he can never be the king that Mufasa was. His brother's mention is one of the only subjects that can flare his temper, causing him to strike Sarabi and nearly devour Zazu. This reveals that Scar suffers from a lack of self-esteem, one of the main motivations behind his stealing of the throne. Even in a position of power, he remains vulnerable to bouts of indecision and insecurity, unable to accept criticism and too stubborn to take the advice of his advisers. Despite his inner insecurities, Scar is a natural orator with a charismatic charm, able to rally the hyenas to his cause and gain the fanatical loyalty of Zira and her pride of lionesses, even in death. His smooth talking is not easily overlooked, but when his walls are broken down, Scar is revealed to be a coward who would much more likely run from a conflict than turn to face it. When forced into a fight, he can hold his own and is not above cheating, as he lied to Simba and threw hot embers into his face in order to win. His natural charisma hides a cowardly nature that refuses to accept blame and takes no shame in shoving problems and troubles on other individuals.